本周, I sat with her to discuss her time at Beloit and as she comes to the end; explore the learning curves she’s embarked on.

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作为一名大一学生, 她知道她想在伯洛伊特大学学习生物学, 因为她对研究机会特别感兴趣, 如果可能的话，她会成为戏剧界的一员. 上大学前, Abby had predominantly been a part of her high school’s theatre community by acting in many musical theatre productions. 从那时起, she’s developed a keen interest in directing and found a niche between her interests in biology and theatre, 试图将女性在科学领域的故事带到聚光灯下.

An example of this is her collaboration with Alum McKenzie Finan, with her directorial debut, 如何和为什么. 该剧描述了两位女生物学家第一次见面, 一次是在她职业生涯的末期，另一次是在她职业生涯的初期. 这位年长的女性因其对祖母假说的研究而名声大噪. The younger wants to present a radical new hypothesis to explain why human females menstruate while most mammals do not. The play deals with the workings of science and its impact on the personal lives of women scientists.

通过这个过程, 她开始扩大她的“STEM x剧院”网络, and came to the realization that there are so many colleagues and collaborators fascinated by theatre and the sciences. 她还发现，虽然有很多人有着相似的兴趣, the artists attempting to investigate the relationship between science and theatre are generally unaware of each other and are left to their own devices.

艾比发现的一个可以探索她兴趣的社区是马剧院, a travelling theatre company originally from Minnesota with whom Abby is currently working. 他们的目标似乎和艾比是一致的, 因为他们的专业戏剧艺术家为教育工作者表演并与他们合作, 学生和外行人用故事的力量丰富科学传播. 马特尔认为，科学素养, 好奇心, 想象力是一个健康社会的必要组成部分.

回顾她在伯洛伊特的时光, 她从同龄人那里得到的支持让她感到谦卑, 教职员工也一样, 主要来自她在 Kappaδ, stating that they’ve practiced the oath of sisterhood in their eminent support for her growth and academic career.

Her one piece of advice for new Beloit students is to take time out of their semester to sign up for at least one Performing Arts course. 她同意 剧院 是不是很有趣, but she learned a lot about herself as an individual by getting out of her comfort zone and working her mind and body. The acute presentation skills she learned through theatre is something she plans on taking with her way beyond her time at Beloit, 并希望未来的学生也这样做.